I used to think landing pages and microsites were basically the same thing. But once I started building out campaigns, I realized they work in very different ways, and choosing the wrong one can hurt your results.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through the real difference between a landing page vs microsite, share examples, and help you figure out which one fits your goals best.
| Feature | Landing Page | Microsite |
|---|---|---|
| Number of Pages | Single page | 2–5+ pages |
| Main Goal | Get visitors to take one action | Explore a topic or campaign in more depth |
| Best For | Ads, signups, promotions | Awareness campaigns, events, niche topics |
| SEO Potential | Limited | Better — more content and structure |
| Setup Time | Fast and simple | Slower, more planning needed |
| Hosting | Usually part of main site | Often has its own domain |
| Focus | Conversion-focused | Informational or exploratory |
Landing Page vs Microsite:
Let’s kick things off by defining the microsite.
What Is a Microsite (And Why Use One)?
A microsite is a small website with two or three pages created for a specific purpose, such as promoting a product, campaign, or topic. It’s separate from the main company website and usually has its own web address to focus on a single message or goal.
Why Use a Microsite Instead of a Full Website?
Microsites are used to highlight specific products, campaigns, or events. Companies build them to reach certain audiences, share focused content, or try out new ideas separately from their main website. This approach helps boost engagement and encourage more customer actions.
For instance, you can use a microsite to:
- Target a specific audience in search engines with a new message
- Countdown to a specific product launch
- Test specific campaign initiatives, additional domains, and marketing messages
- Educate your audience on a particular topic
- Spark interest in an upcoming event
In many cases, microsites are temporary, expiring once a marketing campaign is over.
For example, the famous “Elf Yourself” campaign exists on a microsite you can visit over the holiday period. Still, outside of the festive season, it displays a coming soon page like this:
What Is a Landing Page (And How It Works)?
A landing page is a single web page designed for marketing. It’s the first page people see after clicking a link, like an ad, and aims to get visitors to take one specific action, like signing up or buying something.
What Can You Do with a Landing Page?
Landing pages help encourage visitors to take one specific action, like signing up, buying something, or downloading a file. Businesses use them to keep visitors focused on a single offer, making it easier to turn them into customers or leads.
For instance, you can use a landing page to:
- Promote free downloads to grow your email list
- Advertise eCommerce flash sales with an urgent call-to-action (CTA)
- Encourage visitors to register for a webinar or event
- Convince users to sign up for a free trial or demo
- Promote a new product or service
- Market a giveaway or contest
Here is an example of a landing page from OptinMonster. They use the page to promote a particular product feature for their PPC ad campaign.
As you can see, it only has a single page, has no navigation, and includes a strong call-to-action.
Landing Page vs Microsite: What’s the Difference?
The main difference between landing pages and microsites is their focus and size.
A landing page is a single page designed to get visitors to take one quick action, like signing up or buying. A microsite, however, is a small website with multiple pages created to explore a specific topic or campaign in more depth.
Do Microsites and Landing Pages Have Anything in Common?
A microsite and a landing page both present targeted content for specific marketing goals. A microsite is a small, separate website, while a landing page is a single page designed to drive actions, often within a larger site.
They also include high-quality information to promote your online presence and achieve your marketing strategy’s goals.
Strengths and Weaknesses of a Microsite
Microsites sit on a fine line between educating audiences and lead generation. They have a homepage like a full website, and can exist on a different domain to your main site.
Because a microsite has multiple pages, you can conduct search engine optimization (SEO) to attract organic traffic.
| Feature | Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|---|
| Content | More informative and educational; can host more content than a landing page | Can be less focused on conversions |
| Engagement | More engaging and entertaining; richer user experience | Can include distracting elements (e.g., external links, multiple CTAs) |
| SEO | Can be optimized for organic search traffic | More complex and time-consuming to set up and optimize |
| Cost | Can require additional domain names and higher maintenance costs | |
| Conversion | Can have multiple calls-to-action | May be less effective at driving conversions due to competing elements and length |
| Structure | Multiple pages and navigation options | Requires more scrolling; can lead to lower conversion rates |
For example, Blue Heart of Europe created a microsite like this:
It uses parallax scrolling to teach visitors about the environmental damage caused by hydroelectric dams. While its visually rich user experience holds attention and educates visitors, it’s not the best at converting.
That is because it:
- Includes multiple links and social media buttons that take people away from the site
- Has different calls-to-action that compete for conversions
- Requires visitors to scroll for a long time to reach the bottom of the page
- Lacks persuasive elements like testimonials and social proof
Microsites can be costly to maintain because you’ll need to buy additional domain names to create one. Plus, they take longer to set up and optimize.
Even though the microsite isn’t the best at converting visitors, it’s still useful. You’ll leave knowing more about the cause than when you started, precisely what the intention was – to raise awareness.
Overall, microsites are smaller, more targeted websites that entertain and inform.
Strengths and Weaknesses of a Landing Page
Landing pages convert your website visitors into leads and potential customers. Unlike microsites, they focus first on persuasive design and put less emphasis on entertainment.
Brands use landing pages to convey facts, testimonials, and figures in the briefest way possible to convince users to take action.
| Feature | Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Persuasive design; emphasis on conversion | Less emphasis on entertainment; not as engaging as a microsite |
| Content | Concise delivery of facts, testimonials, and figures | Less information than a microsite |
| Bounce Rate | Brevity can help keep bounce rates low | |
| SEO | Drives traffic to a specific URL | |
| Tracking | Allows for tracking and data gathering (UTM tags, short-links) | |
| Development | Easier to create than a microsite |
Take this ebook landing page example from Taboola:
The page is likely excellent at converting visitors, but it’s not entertaining. There aren’t any cool transition effects or videos.
This page tells you why you should download the ebook, and it does it quickly without wasting time. The brevity of landing pages can help keep bounce rates low.
Landing pages can also help with search engine optimization by driving traffic to a specific URL. Moreover, they allow for tracking and data gathering thanks to UTM tags and short-link services.
While landing pages are easier to create than microsites, they also have their weaknesses. For one, they’re not as engaging as a complete microsite and offer less information to visitors.
Landing Page vs Microsite: Which One Should You Use?
If you’re still torn between building a landing page or a microsite, here’s a quick way to choose based on your goals:
- Use a landing page if your goal is to get someone to take one clear action, like signing up, downloading something, or making a purchase.
- Use a microsite if you need to explain a campaign, tell a story, or share different types of content across multiple pages.
There’s no wrong choice. It just depends on what you want your visitors to do. I’ve used both, and they each shine in different situations.
You don’t need to hire a developer or touch code to create a landing page or microsite. I’ve built both with SeedProd, and it makes the process fast, even if you’re starting from scratch.
SeedProd comes with full website kits and landing page templates you can customize using drag-and-drop blocks. It works with any WordPress theme and includes features like custom domains, email integrations, and subscriber management.
Whether you’re promoting a product, testing a campaign, or collecting signups, you can build something that looks great and works hard for your business, without needing extra tools.
In this in-depth guide, we’ve explained the difference between a landing page vs. a microsite and told you when to use them. You might also like these other helpful guides:
- What Is a Dynamic Landing Page (+ How to Make One in WordPress)
- Landing Page vs. Website: What’s The Difference?
- What Is a Splash Page + 9 Steps to Create Your Own
- Landing Page vs Sales Page: Which One is Right for You?
Thanks for reading! We’d love to hear your thoughts, so please feel free to leave a comment with any questions and feedback.
You can also follow us on YouTube, X (formerly Twitter), and Facebook for more helpful content to grow your business.
